Arrow Season 8 Review: 8 Ups & 2 Downs From 'Welcome To Hong Kong'

7. Callbacks To Season 3

We were all told that Arrow's final season would be full of callbacks and references to days gone by, and that's exactly what we got in the premiere. But just because the Season 1 references have come and gone, that doesn't mean that the nostalgia train is ready to stop moving. And it hit us at full-speed this week once again, as 'Welcome To Hong Kong' was heavy on the references to the third season.

From the setting to the returns of Katana and China White, and the rise of the Earth-1 Black Canary to the relevance of the Alpha Omega virus, the whole episode was essentially a love-letter to all the best parts of Season 3. And, in a way, it showed how much stronger the third season could have been without the melodrama of the Oliver, Felicity and Ra's Al Ghul saga.

But we're not here to criticise what was, but praise what is. And those nostalgic throwbacks enhanced an episode that already had a lot of great material to work with, while also allowing the show to pay tribute to another of its most pivotal years.